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Cho
Oyu : The History

Cho Oyu - the "Turquoise Goddess"
in Tibetan - is located at the frontier of Tibet and
Nepal. At a height of 8201 meters, it belongs to the
Himalayan range, about 30 km west of Everest. It is
the sixth highest mountain in the world and was first
climbed on October 19th 1954 by the Austrian Herbert
Tichy, with Sepp Jochler and Pasang Dava Lama.

"Finally, the peak is reached, the infinite
hardships are ended. The last nine hours fighting with
the mountain; the time in the death zone above 24,000
foot, the weeks of privations and hardships, even the
risk of one's life - is this reward itself really?
Yes, certainly! Not because of fame but inner
satisfaction: To have found the mountain as friend and
have been so near to the sky." Sepp Jochler.

The History

1952: First reconnaissance of Cho Oyu's Northwest
face by Edmund Hillary and party.

1954: A small Austrian expedition, under the
leadership of Herbert Tichy, make a spectacular first
ascent without oxygen on the Northwest face. This new
style of climbing big mountains with alpine techniques
rewrote mountaineering history.

1958: Second ascent by an Indian expedition. Sherpa
Pasang Dawa Lama, who was part of the first ascent,
reached the peak for the second time. First death on
Cho Oyu.

1959: Four member of an expedition are killed in an
avalanche during a failed international women's
expedition.

1964: Controversial third ascent by a German
expedition. No proof of reaching the summit. Two
mountaineers die in Camp 4 of exhaustion at 7600 m
(25,000 foot) height.

1978: The Austrian alpinists, Koblmuller and
Furtner, succeeds in a spectacular ascent of the
extremely difficult and dangerous southeast face.

1983: Reinhold Messner succeeds on his fourth
attempt.

1985: First winter ascent of the South buttress by
a Polish expedition. The South Buttress is the most difficult route on Cho Oyu
to be completed successfully.